Baking dough prepared in the home or by chefs is generally a mixture of flour, fat and water which is kneaded together before baking. With the increasing popularity of convenience foods there has been a growing demand for a stable ready-mixed dough which does not require the time-consuming steps of blending, mixing and kneading before use.
An important consideration in formulating a ready-to-bake dough is storage stability. A considerable period of time may elapse after preparation by the manufacturer and purchase by the consumer. A further period of time may elapse before the consumer uses the product.
One method of preserving dough is through refrigeration. This is an acceptable approach, but has the disadvantages of requiring refrigeration space and equipment and also requiring the dough product to be thawed before use.
Another approach has been to try to make the dough stable at room temperature. Stability may, for example, be achieved by incorporating preservatives in the dough to prevent microbial attack. Another approach is to include additives such as polyhydric alcohols which, by lowering the water activity of the dough, impart stability. An example of this approach is disclosed in European Patent Application No. 145,550, published June 1985, wherein the ingredients of a storage-stable dough are selected to give the product a water activity of less than about 0.72.
A paper in the Journal of Food Science, Vol. 49 (1984) pp. 1405 to 1409 investigates the storage stability of puff pastry dough. A number of parameters were examined including varying the water content, and adding sorbitol, dough conditioner, potassium sorbate, gum arabic and butylated hydroxy anisole. In addition, the wheat flour used was modified by replacing it with flour which had been pretreated by heating to partially inactivate its enzyme activity.
The heat pretreatment was carried out at 148.9.degree. C. for 0, 20, 40 and 50 minutes, at 176.7.degree. C. for 1, 5, 10, 20 and 30 minutes and at 204.4.degree. C. for 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes. The investigators found that the lipoxygenase activity decreased rapidly during the first 20 minutes at all three temperatures but that the alpha-amylase was more heat resistant. Even the most severe heating for 20 minutes at 204.4.degree. C. caused only about a 70% decrease in amylase activity. The investigators also noted that the heat pretreatment had an adverse effect on the baking properties of the flour, attributed to denaturation of the wheat gluten.
The overall conclusion of the experimental program was that a puff pastry dough could be produced with a water activity of 0.9 by adding 12% sorbitol and a dough conditioner, and by using a flour heat treated at 176.7.degree. C. for 10 minutes. The heat-treated flour contained 6% water by weight and the total puff pastry dough composition was 20.5% water by weight. Storage tests indicated that the product was stable against microbiological spoilage or oxidative rancidity at 5.degree. C. and 15.degree. C. At the higher storage temperature, however, loss in baking quality was observed. This was attributed to partial melting of the puff pastry margarine.
It has been found that a storage-stable dough can be obtained wherein stability is achieved by using a mixture of fat and flour which has been exposed to heat pretreatment under carefully controlled moisture conditions thereby minimizing the loss in baking quality of the dough.
In European Patent Application No. 112,504 (equivalent to U.S. Pat. No. 4,568,551) a dehydrated base product is disclosed for making thickened sauces and soups, which are dispersible in hot water without forming lumps. The process comprises premixing a starch material such as wheat flour with an optionally liquified, edible fat. The premix is then heated to an elevated temperature after adding 0.5 to 15 w/w % water or heated to an elevated temperature under elevated pressure, optionally without added water.
It has been found that a flour/fat mixture treated by heating under controlled conditions of temperature and moisture in a manner similar to that described in European Patent Application No. 112,504 can also be used as an ingredient of a storage-stable dough.